Many people start the New Year with a health related resolution. They say things like: “I’m going to be more active” or “My resolution is to go for an hour long run every day.” Unfortunately, it seems inevitable for most that a few months pass, and the resolutions, like health and wellness, also go out the door.

Exercise has always been a point of contention for people, due to conflicting busy schedules, jobs, activities, and relaxation. Most people see it as time consuming, and wave it off with the idea that they don’t have an hour or more to put aside every day for exercise or working out.

However, exercise doesn’t need to be done in hour-long chunks to be effective. Simply tweaking some activities you do every day can add more fitness into your daily routine, and help you gain the benefits without ‘losing’ the time. In fact, adding exercise into your routine in 10 to 15 minute chunks can actually be more effective in the long-term than less frequent 1 hour sessions.

The easiest way to get yourself into exercising is to do something that you enjoy. Do you like to dance? Crank up some music and boogie in the kitchen while you make dinner. Do you enjoy walking? Take a trip around the neighbourhood, or take your dog for a nice long walk.

The most important thing to remember is that exercise and health and wellness is not as daunting as you might think. Daily household chores can turn into exercise, simply by exaggerating your movements and getting your heart rate up. Adding more steps with the help of a pedometer, or walking more when you can are all healthy changes that are easy to make.

If you are worried about committing to exercise, or doing an activity alone, make it social! Bring a friend along. You will hold each other accountable, and can worry less about trying something new.

This is another area that the 15 minute chunks can help. Breaking up the activity into manageable sections will help raise your confidence up. Skipping exercise entirely might make you feel guilty, causing you to avoid exercising at all. Little pieces add up to a big whole, and any activity that you can add into your day is better than nothing.

Remember, as Confucius said: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”.